Circles of Angels

By Nora M. Spurgin

Part One

Angel Bands

It began when I was sitting in my office looking at stacks of papers, each representing a project, a group of people, or an undeveloped idea. I felt overwhelmed, wondering how I could bring each of these tasks and projects to completion.

I pondered how I could delegate some of this work. To whom could I give these projects? I needed God's perspective. I asked how I might engage spiritual help.

Working through the stacks, I found myself humming a piece of a song remembered from childhood:

Oh come, angel band!
Come and around me stand.

An Angel band! What an interesting concept. I envisioned a band of angels surrounding me-ready to help. Yes, that was it-I would call on them for help. Was there not some understanding that their help was only a prayer away? My sense of feeling overwhelmed vanished as the angel band idea took shape.

I kept envisioning a circle of heavenly beings dancing around me. They were comforting and peaceful, and created a warm feeling. They were also energetic and vibrant. They were a special band of angels, united in heart and creating spiritual energy for healing, protection, and inspiration. I could sense the stirring of the air as they whirled around me.

When I browsed through new releases in bookstores, I was fascinated with the current interest in angels. It seems that we are finally becoming aware of spiritual help which was always available! Is God, with infinite love, sending greater angelic energy to earth, moving us toward a more spiritual age? Although I had always believed in angels, I began to feel a new excitement about the possibility of greater spiritual energy waiting to be released.

If greater spiritual power is available, perhaps I could tap into it-for example, visualizing bands of angels around those I prayed for might make my prayers more expansive, more comprehensive, and more powerful.

According to most definitions, angels are God's special servants, created to protect, guide, guard, help, heal and comfort us and to act as messengers.

Angels are believed to be practically innumerable. The Bible refers to their being called by the tens of thousands, and that myriads of heavenly hosts are being "poured out" upon the earth.

If they are awaiting a commission, how do I summon them? Thus began an exciting personal journey into a realm of learning how to engage spiritual help and companionship.

Come let us join
our cheerful songs
with angels around
the throne;
Ten thousand are
their tongues,
But all their joys are one.
|Isaac Watts

Keep on loving each other
as brothers.
Do not forget
to entertain strangers
for by so doing some people have
entertained angels without
knowing it.
Hebrews 13:1-2

Organizing The Angels

"Everyone, no matter how humble he may be, has angels to watch over him. They are heavenly, pure, and splendid, and yet they have been given us to keep us company on our way... They are at your side, helping your soul as you strive to go ever higher in your union in God and through Christ." Pope Pius 12th

Looking again at the many projects awaiting my attention, I decided to commission a band of angels as helpers. I first focused on all the particular things to be accomplished-many of these tasks depended on the cooperation of other people.

Before I could receive their cooperation, each of these people needed something.

Some needed to be inspired.
Some needed to be convinced.
Some were waiting for doors to open up for them.
Some needed to be prodded.
Some were waiting for others to respond to them.
Some had health, family or financial problems which needed attention.

Could I call a band of angels to help make each person's life flow more smoothly? If so, would the projects I was working on become easier to achieve? Why not?

I made a chart identifying each project by name, together with the people whose cooperation was required. Under each of those projects I listed the kinds of help needed. For example:

One person's health problems were a deterrent to meeting important deadlines. She needed a healing angel band.

Another's difficulty with relationships upset the harmony and flow of work. He needed angelic wisdom and harmony.

Another person was not American. Sometimes cultural misunderstandings stood in the way of smooth decision-making. He and those with whom there were conflicts needed circles of understanding or mediating angels.

Another person carried deep feelings of historic pain from racial discrimination, which surfaced in the form of resentment and required consideration at the most impossible times. She needed to be surrounded by healing, comfort and compassion for others.

Another person was brilliant. When inspired, she produced efficiently and well. But she was not always inspired. She needed angels of encouragement and constancy.

Still another person was conscientious in her leadership role, but quick to anger. Control issues stood in the way of two-way communication-often discouraging others on her team. She needed an angel band of nurture, comfort and love to heal her own past wounds.

As an over-achiever, I had taken on too much, and was feeling overwhelmed. There were the women's conferences we were setting up, speakers to engage, deadlines, finances to arrange, printing jobs, and so on. There were books I was trying to complete. There was the Fourth World Women's Conference in Beijing, China. I was responsible for a seminar my own women's organization was sponsoring there. There were many difficulties in making arrangements with a foreign government.

On a personal level I thought about my husband and grown children. Everyone had needs. The children were in college and often needed protection and guidance in making choices. There were financial needs to be met. My husband had his own career-related frustrations.

I decided that creating a circle of angels for each person and area of responsibility might make all our lives flow more harmoniously and free us to be more productive. I wrote down all the projects and people in my life-both personal and career-related. I listed the needs which the power of angel bands might meet to harmonize relationships and increase the flow of productivity. It was a spiritual organization chart.

Then I prayed over each item on my list, calling on God to send a circle of angels to surround each project and person.

I gave each circle of angels a name corresponding to the project. Under each name were listed very specific requests for help. In essence, each angel circle was commissioned with an earthly mission. Since that initial request, I send occasional prayers to thank them. I now feel like the director of a large service agency. On second thought, I not only feel like it, I am! Having circles of angels working on every project has become a way of life for me. It is a whole new way of thinking.

But to what angel has he ever
said, `Sit at my right hand,
till 1 make my enemies
a stool for thy feet?'
Are they not all ministering
spirits sent forth to serve
for the sake of those who are to
obtain salvation?
Hebrews 1:13-14

My Own Band Of Angels

While visiting New England I was waiting in a van while a friend picked up her children from school. Colored leaves danced above me in the wind. The sun was bright; the sky was blue. It was a wonderful time to enjoy nature, but my own mind was troubled by a difficult time I was having with someone. As I waited I felt a warm embrace in the air and sensed God's comforting smile. He seemed to be saying, "I've created an angel band for you." Suddenly I laughed. I had been creating circles of angels for everyone else, but I had not invited one specifically for myself Yes, of course, I needed one too. "Thank you," I smiled back, and put my angel band to work-on me! It was so beautiful and real I wanted to cry. Basking in that warm embrace, I knew that such bands, or circles of angels, although invisible, were indeed real.

Hush my dear, lie still
and slumber
Holy angels guard your heart.
Heavenly blessings without number
Gently falling on thy head.
Isaac Watts, Divine Song,
A Cradle Hymn

Who Are The Angels?

"Around our pillows, golden ladders rise,
and up and down the skies,
with winged sandals shod, the angels come
and go, the messengers of God!"
H.S. Stoddard
Hymn to the Beautiful

Angels are the spiritual part of God's creation. Created as the spiritual support system for God's family-humankind they never experienced life in physical form as we know it. Many people think of loved ones who have passed on to eternal life, or the spiritual realm, as angels. They, too, are spiritual beings, and may come to help their loved ones on earth. However, they are distinguished here from the angels who were created by God for the specific purpose of serving God's children-the human family. The angels can and do relate to our spiritual nature in ways of which we are often unaware.

According to some angelologists and theologians, those angels who center on the throne of God are available to fulfill the purpose of good only, and will not respond to selfish requests which could hurt others. Their purpose is to fulfill God's Will, to represent God's unconditional love for us, and to assist in anything which promotes the spiritual protection and growth of ourselves and those around us. In seeking angelic help, it is important to center ourselves with God first in order to protect ourselves from any influences that may be selfishly motivated and hurtful to us or others. Negative thoughts and motivations may draw in darker energies, which are helpful to no one. On a less personal level, angels help bring rebirth to the world, drawing and reshaping people ever closer to God's original intention. As angels protect more people from the forces of evil, they bring humanity closer and closer to God's own parental heart.

Because He is love in its essence,
God appears before the
angels ... as a sun
And from that sun, heat and
light go forth; the heat being love
and the light, wisdom.
And the angels' love and
wisdom, comes not from
themselves but from God.
Emanuel Swedenborg
Angelic Wisdom

What Do The Angels Do?

"For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone."
Psalms 91:11-12

Angels, as servants, perform many duties. As they work with us, they grow and mature in their own wisdom and abilities. There are, for example:

Guiding angels
bringing inspiration, truth, and wisdom.

Protecting angels
guarding, protecting and serving as a shield from the evils of the spiritual world and the dangers of the physical world.

Comforting angels
ministering to those in spiritual or physical pain, and to those who are grieving, struggling, depressed, or frustrated.

Angels of mercy
attending those who are suffering in poverty and pain.

Peace angels
visiting areas of conflict to inspire resolution, and bringing an atmosphere of harmony.

Angels of glory
glorifying God and carrying thoughts of praise to heaven from earth.

Angels of hope
bringing hope to the hopeless.

Angels of virtue
assisting in the development of character.

Angels of happiness
bringing joyful energy; helping us find happiness in the simple things of life.

Angels of encouragement
encouraging those who need a bit of gentle prodding to keep on growing.

Angels of love
nurturing the energy of love which is giving and unselfish.

Angels of grace
bringing the healing touch of grace and the ability to forgive oneself.

Angels of truth
guiding in the understanding of universal laws and truths of the universe.

Healing angels
mending a wounded or diseased body or spirit.

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